Beer-related travel, at home and abroad, exploring and indulging my passion for beer.

Wednesday, 17 May 2017

CAMRA Members Weekends - a few reflections

Last month saw CAMRA holding its Member’s Weekend and Annual
General Meeting. The event took place at Bournemouth, on
the sunny south coast, and a few days by the sea would have been very nice and most agreable. Given
the resort’s relative proximity to where
I live, I had little in the way of excuses for not turning up. I could even have
gone there for the day had I so desired.

However, a number of things kept me away, not least of which
was a growing disillusionment with CAMRA; certainly at national level. The much
vaunted “Revitalisation Campaign” seems to have run out of steam, and there are
various other shenanigans going on behind the scenes, which all point to a lack
of direction within the organisation.

In the end I decided that attending the AGM would not be the
best use of my time, but I have been to several of these events in the past and
thoroughly enjoyed them. So as I’m feeling in a slightly reflective mood, I
thought I’d take a look back at some of those past AGM’s and share some of my
recollections of them.

According to my calculations, I have been to six Annual
General Meetings of the Campaign for Real Ale, (they weren’t called Member’s
Weekends in the early days). Four were back in the early 1980’s, and the other
two were in much more recent times; the Isle of Man in
2010 and Norwich in 2013. What
happened in the intervening period equates to a large chunk of my middle years,
during which I changed partners, became a father, raised a family, had several
changes of job and ran my own off-licence business.

Obviously, much else changed as well during this period;
both within CAMRA and with the beer, brewing and pub scene in general.
Recounting these various changes, is beyond the scope of this post, but it is
worth noting that I too changed and the rather earnest twenty-something who
went along to those early meetings, and listened intently to all the debates, has
been replaced by a rather more cynical and laissez-faire individual, with a
slightly world-weary approach to the whole thing.

Durham, in 1981,
was the venue for my first CAMRA AGM, and I remember travelling up by train,
with three CAMRA colleagues from Maidstone, where I was
living at the time. The city’s university was hosting the meeting, with the
conference debates taking place in one of the lecture halls. We had lodgings,
of sorts, in the halls of residence.

The highlight of the weekend, was looking round Durham’s
impressive and imposing cathedral, but we also managed to find a number of
decent pubs. The beer choice was far from impressive in those days, and was
limited to brews from Bass, McEwan’s, Vaux and Whitbread (Castle Eden), but we
still had a good time, and for me it was good to meet and socialise with
members from up and down the country.

The following year, it was Bradford’s
turn to host the event. I attended with two of the colleagues who’d attended
the previous year, but this time we were accompanied by our respective wives.
There’s not a lot I remember from that particular AGM, apart from travelling
out by bus to Keighley on the Saturday evening.

There we meet up with the girls who had spent the day in
nearby Howarth, whilst us “more dedicated” men-folk were stuck in the debating
hall. We visited several excellent Timothy Taylor’s pubs that evening, where
Golden Best and Best Bitter ruled the roost; with not a drop of Landlord in
sight.

1983 brought the AGM closer to home, with the event taking
place at Reading University.
My then wife and I travelled in convoy with a group of slightly younger, local
branch members from Maidstone. We stopped for lunch at
the Crooked Billet, a Brakspear’s pub in a woodland location, up in the hills close to Wokingham, before
carrying on into Reading itself.

There’s not a lot I can recall from that particular AGM
either, apart from the memorable evening we spent at another Crooked Billet;
this one a wonderfully unspoilt, rural alehouse, in the tiny hamlet of Stoke
Row. Entering this basic, country pub was like stepping back in time. There was
no bar as such, just a simple serving hatch in the door of the ground floor
cellar. The excellent Brakspear’s beer was served straight from casks,
stillaged in full view of customers. I understand the Crooked Billet has now
become a restaurant; its new owner having rescued it from a state of almost total disrepair.

Conference venue IOM 2010

The AGM moved north of the border in 1984, for its first
incursion into Scotland.
Edinburgh’sgrandiose McEwan Hall was the setting for the
conference, whilst a few friends and I, again from Maidstone,
stayed in a guest house. I think that was my third visit to the Scottish
capital, but I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind to appreciate all that
Edinburgh had to offer, or to get into the spirit of the AGM. My marriage was
on the rocks, andwhilst I tried putting
on a brave face, I was hurting quite badly inside, and shouldn’t really have been there.
Consequently my memories of both the conference, and the city’s pubs, are
rather sketchy.

A year later, I had got divorced and then re-married. My new
wife, the present Mrs Bailey, wasn’t particularly into either beer or pubs,
although to her credit, she did persuade me to become more engagedwith CAMRA again, after a period of
non-involvement.

It was to be a quarter of a century, before I next attended
a CAMRA AGM, and by 2010, the event had been re-badged as the Members’ Weekend.
Douglas, Isle of Man, was the
venue for that particular AGM, but it’s also remembered as the weekend of the
Icelandic volcano; the one with the unpronounceable name!

I was oblivious to what had been going on in the outside
world, as I had arrived on the island late on Thursday evening. It was only after
breakfast the following morning, when I phoned my wife, that I learned that
European airspace had been closed because of the enormous ash cloud from the volcano,
and that all flights had been grounded.

I was due to meet up with a couple of friends from my own
branch, alter that morning, and also with a group from Maidstone CAMRA. My
friends had flown over the day before, and the Maidstone
contingent had, like me, travelled over by ferry. It seemed that most of the
delegates had also arrived the same day, so the conference went ahead almost as
though nothing had happened.

Getting back was fun; I was OK as I’d booked a return
ticket, but the Sea-Cat back to Liverpool was much more
crowded than it would have otherwise been, and I’m sure the Isle of Man Steam
Packet Company really cleaned up that weekend. As for the AGM itself, well I
enjoyed the beer exhibition and the excursions to Castletown and Port
Erin in the south, and to Peel and Ramsey in the north. The pubs we visited at these destinations
and points in between, were also good, although I must confess I grew a little
tired of Okells’ beer. As for the IOM, well I’m glad I went, but it’snot somewhere which features high on my list
of places to return to, (sorry all you Manx people out there).

Somewhere I am always pleased to return to is Norwich;
the host city for the 2013 Member’s Weekend. There were no transport problems
this time, but I had arrived a day early in the city, as I had planned to
visit my parents. As it happened, they were both ill at the time and asked me
not to pop over, so instead I spent the day exploring Norwich and its many pubs on my
own, before meeting up with friends from Maidstone CAMRA in the evening.

That meeting took place at the wonderful Fat Cat, which was
bursting at the seams with AGM attendees. We adjourned later for a curry,
before heading back into the city centre for yet more beer in the Golden Star.
This was my last Member’s Weekend, and I can safely say that the social side was
by far the best part of the event.

I would go further and say that the activities which take
place outside of the conference hall are definitely the highlight of an AGM.
The local branch whose job it is to host the event, will normally organise a
beer exhibition, highlighting the best beers the area has to offer, and there
will be various brewery visits taking place s well, over the course of the
weekend.

Some people go along purely for the socialising and the pubs;
as I discovered at this particular Member’s Weekend. It was Saturday morning
and the first full day of the conference proper. I was walking up into the
city, from the boarding house I was staying in, when I bumped into a couple
from another Kent CAMRA branch. I won’t embarrass them by revealing their names,
although they’re quite well known within CAMRA circles, but as we continued
towards St Andrew’s Hall, where the conference was taking place, the couple
suddenly turned and said goodbye.

“You’re not coming to the AGM then?” I asked, somewhat
puzzled. They laughed, and both replied with a firm “No”. As one of them
pointed out, “Who wants to spend a beautiful spring day, shut up in a stuffy
hall, listening to a load of waffle and hot air?” They told me they were
offto explore Norwich
and sample its many delights. They would, of course, be taking in the odd pub
or two along the way. They wished me a pleasant day, and sauntered off in the
direction of the city’s castle.

Slightly taken aback, I wished them the same, before
hurrying on towards the conference hall. As I sat in the coolness of the historic
surroundings, listening to the various debates, and occasionally raising my
hand when there was a vote on a particular motion, I found myself thinking of
this couple from the opposite end of Kent,
and wishing I had done the same.

I later found out that this husband and wife team, who were
regular attendees at Members’ Weekends, never went along to the actual
conference; preferring instead to make the most of their time in a different
part of the country. And who could blame them?

The conference adjourned for lunch, and I went along to the
beer exhibition, where I bumped into several people I knew. I also enjoyed a
couple of cheese rolls and several pints of local ale. We went outside into a
courtyard area behind the hall. The sun was still shining and there and then I
made up my mind that I would not be returning for the conference’s afternoon
session. Instead I made my way out of the hall complex, and back into the real
world, away from some of the more crass
and pointless motions being debated.

It was very pleasant, walking around in the mid-April
sunshine, and I had a wander around the centre of Norwich.
I didn’t call in at any pubs, because not only had I drank plenty at lunchtime,
but I was also booked on a tour of Woodforde’s Brewery, that evening, and the
coach was due to pick up outside the conference venue, shortly after5pm.

The tour of Woodforde’s was very good, and the visit
included a meal at the brewery tap next door. The Fur and Feather is an excellent
pub which my wife and I had been to on a couple of previous trips up to Norfolk.
As well as good food, it serves a wide range of beers from the adjacent
brewery, all served by gravity, direct from the cask.

So there we have it; my own experiences of CAMRA Member’s
Weekends and AGM’s, looking back over a thirty year period. If I wanted to
summarise them I would say they offer an excellent opportunity to visit and
explore some different parts of the country, and to meet up with members from
all over the UK.
You may find the debates intriguing, or more likely they will bore the socks
off you, but if you are a member, and haven’t been, then why not give one a go?
Who knows, you might even bump into yours truly, should I have a change of
heart and decide to show my face!

Exploring the pubs in each locality was definitely the highlight of each Members' Weekend, as far as I was concerned, Martin.

The Members Bars were usually far too crowded, and lacking in atmosphere. I also have a feeling that they weren't a feature of those early AGMs although, as we are talking three decades ago, I am not 100% certain of this.

I remember the Crooked Billet at Stoke Row from those times and was often taken there in my late teens by older work colleagues. It was run by an old boy called Nobby and as you mentioned it had no bar just two rooms. If drinking outside in the summer you risked attack by the geese which roamed the garden

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About Me

Sixty years old (just) and married with one twenty-something son, who shows no sign of wanting to
leave home. My interests are many and varied, and whilst beer (and the
enjoyment of it) obviously features high on the list I also enjoy travelling
(particularly when it involves searching out new beers to try), cycling and
walks in the countryside. I dabble a bit in gardening, which at the moment
primarily involves re-landscaping my garden. My other main interests though are
music, especially 70's rock music, and history. I have been a member of CAMRA
since the mid 1970's and have edited a number of local branch magazines. I have
also had published two, now sadly out of date, guides to Kent
pubs. For six years my wife and I also ran our own successful real-ale
off-licence, which as well as selling cask ale to take away by the pint,
offered one of the best selections of bottled beers in the south east. Prior to
taking on the shop, I was an accomplished home-brewer producing a wide range of
full-mash beers; something I intend to get back into in the not too distant
future.